The Woodlawn Bioreactor of Veolia Environmental Services enables the efficient production of green energy and heat from what would otherwise be waste material, increasing both resource recovery and disposal whilst reducing waste volumes.
Woodlawn is a former open-cut copper and zinc mine site, located 250km south-west of Sydney, near Goulburn.
The mine chasm receives around 100,000 tonnes of Sydney household waste per year and the Woodlawn Bioreactor processes the waste to produce biogas, which is then used to generate renewable electricity.
“Landfill gases contain methane, which is 21 times more potent in its greenhouse warming potential than carbon dioxide,” Said Henry Gundry, Woodlawn, Environment and Operations Manager.
“The Woodlawn bioreactor captures the harmful greenhouse gas produced and uses it to generate electricity for homes and businesses.”
Household waste is taken from around Sydney by rubbish trucks to a facility at Clyde. The rubbish is compacted into specially built containers.
The containers are then shipped by rail to Tarago, where they are trucked to the disused mine with a capacity for 25,000,000 m3 of waste.
“Once fully operational, the plant will prevent the equivalent of 675,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year,” Henry Gundry said. “That’s the same as taking more than 195,000 cars off the road every 12 months.”
The Woodlawn Bioreactor currently has 1MW of generation, which will progressively increase to an expected 25MW within a couple of years.
As Ian Kiernan noted at the official launch of the electricity generation system, “Veolia is certainly making a significant contribution to the environment whilst also solving a metropolitan waste problem.”
Local tyre contractor for the project, Goulburn Tyre Master, was assigned to find the right tyres for the operation’s work-horse, a CAT 725 articulated truck and the project’s main container lifter.
New Solideal tyres were selected for the truck and CEAT tyres for the Omega container handler. Bearcat Tyres, the national distributor of Solideal and CEAT, was eager to trial its new tyres in a controlled practical working environment.
The container handler was fitted with CEAT 1800.00 – 25, 40 ply L-5 smooth, re-designed underground mining tyres and with over 2400 hrs of hard work on abrasive surfaces in all types of weather, the total hours are projecting well.
“This is due to many factors” says Malcolm Turner, Bearcat Tyres Major Accounts Executive “The right tyres at the right pressure in the first place, vigilant maintenance and responsible operation by the drivers, all adds-up to longer tyre life, less waste and financial savings.”
“Monitoring the tyre’s use in constant but varied application is a benefit for both Veolia and Bearcat,” says Malcolm Turner.
“We get to study the tyres in their working environment and report back to the factory, as well as acting as a watchdog for the project. If there is something wrong with the machine or operation practice, the tyres will tell the story.”
The CAT 725 was fitted with new, imported full-steel Radial Solideal tyres.
“As the truck is being used for a number of applications, monitoring the wear of the tyre is important,” says Henry Gundry.
“The vehicle is being used for general earth moving and also acts as a water cart for dust suppression’. It often needs to work on the landfill waste surface, which presents a number of hazards as you can imagine.”
The tyres are checked monthly with tread depth and surface wear reported. “The aim of the inspection is to see the effects of a number of surfaces on the wear and tear of the tyres, and also the effects of the changing weight that the water cart puts on the machine.” adds Henry Gundry.
“By the looks of the test results to date,” adds Malcolm Turner “Both sets of tyres are very well suited to these work conditions and a long working life here is projected. We’re all really pleased with their performance.”